2025 Annual Children’s Television Programming Reports due Friday

Television stations are required to submit their 2025 Annual Children's Television Programming Report to the FCC by Friday, Jan. 30.

These reports detail programming a television station broadcast during 2025 and also demonstrate a commercial station's compliance with the FCC's commercial limits in children's programming for last year.

The reports must be uploaded to the FCC by this Friday, via the Licensing and Management System (LMS), accessible at https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/login.html.

Lauren Lynch Flick and Scott Flick, attorneys with TAB's longtime FCC legal counsel Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, say once filed, the FCC's electronic filing system will automatically place the Children's Television Programming Report into the station's Online Public Inspection File.

But they caution that "each station should confirm that has occurred to ensure that its Public Inspection File is complete."

Another caution - this one for non-commercial television stations.

While such stations are not subject to the commercial limitation rules, nor are such stations required to air programming responsive to the educational and informational needs of children 16 years of age and under, they still need to document programming responsive to children's needs.

Non-commercial television stations must "maintain records of their own in the event their performance is challenged at license renewal time," said the attorneys Flick.

"In the face of such a challenge, a noncommercial station will be required to have documentation available that demonstrates its efforts to meet the needs of children."

The Flicks have prepared the Pillsbury law firm's advisory alert for television stations explaining in detail what the 2025 Annual Children's Television Programming Report must document and reflect.

Television stations can access the firm's guidance here.

Questions? Contact TAB's Michael Schneider or call (512) 322-9944.